The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act is the administrative law that governs special education services and how students with disabilities should be educated. When students are found eligible for special education and related services, the law states that the general education classroom should be the first placement considered where…

The bibliography of 90 items lists books and journal articles for professionals and parents on the topic of integration of early intervention programs. The list encompasses publications on program models, parental expectations, financial concerns, effects on development of handicapped and nonhandicapped children, social behavior, and educational…

Developed by the staff of the Albuquerque Integration Model (Project AIM Outreach), the guidelines present a framework for organizing and conducting an integrated classroom for handicapped and nonhandicapped preschoolers. AIM is reviewed in terms of its conception of placement along a continuum of less restrictive environments. Guidelines center…

The paper is a product of the 3-year project, "Functional Mainstreaming for Success," designed to develop a model for instructional mainstreaming of handicapped children (3-6 years old) in community settings. The paper reviews the literature defining "mainstreaming," notes that mainstreaming is not the wholesale return of exceptional students from…

A planning and decision making process to facilitate research dissemination is illustrated with the example of a research project to study techniques for helping young handicapped children make the transition successfully from a special preschool to a public school kindergarten. General guidelines for planning dissemination are listed. Major…

Factors effecting the success of preschool early intervention programs for children birth through age five are discussed. Specific issues covered include building a high quality program, maintaining quality instruction, integrating related services, providing the least restrictive environment, identifying participants, designing the delivery…

The manual is intended to help teachers who are integrating handicapped children into preschool programs. It opens with a description of the Albuquerque Special Preschool, a program in which handicapped children were integrated in successively less restrictive environments. The raltionale for integration is presented in terms of research and of…

The paper describes the steps necessary to integrate a preschool program to increase least restrictive environment options for preschoolers with developmental handicaps, and reviews the case study of one preschool undergoing integration. Described are the rationale for change, the change process, daily activity schedule, and sample continuums for…

For the past four years the Gallaudet University Child Development Center (which provides day care services for normal-hearing preschool children of university students and employees) and the Kendall Demonstration Elementary School (which serves hearing-impaired children from infancy through middle school) have cooperated in developing an…

The paper recommends that young children with disabilities be placed in preschool classes with normally developing children whenever possible. Significant benefits are cited in the areas of social, emotional, and communication development when children with handicapping conditions are educated in settings with their nonhandicapped peers. Four…

The article offers 10 questions to aid in integrating hearing-impaired preschoolers into a child care program. Questions address such concerns as staff and children learning to communicate with the deaf child, interpreting, social integration, group size, and helping the deaf child achieve status. (DB)

This conference presentation examines features of Superstart Plus, an inclusive New York City program designed to serve the diversified population of preschool students with special needs. Superstart Plus is designed to provide a less restrictive environment for preschoolers with mild, moderate, or severe disabilities, by placing them in general…

Project CHIME (Children with Hearing Impairments in Mainstreamed Environments) was created to develop and implement strategies that promote effective mainstreaming of preschool hearing-impaired children, aged 2-5. This guide reviews issues that should be addressed before beginning a mainstreamed program, such as: funding; advance planning;…

The final report documents a 2-year project which trained volunteers to help preschool disabled and non-disabled children work together as part of a transitioning and mainstreaming effort. The report describes project development, implementation, and dissemination. Specific objectives included the following: form an advisory council; orient staff,…

The report presents an executive summary of the findings, conclusions, and recommendations of a comparative study to assess the services being provided to handicapped preschool children by Project Head Start and non-Head Start programs. This study is Phase I of a larger study of the process of mainstreaming handicapped children in Head Start…